Principal: Kathy Olssen

Grade Levels: K-5

Forest Dale Elementary School Web Site

Background

Forest Dale Elementary School serves a student population of approximately 780 students in pre-kindergarten through Grade 5. The school is part of the Carmel-Clay School System and is located in Carmel, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis.

A staff of 86 provides a warm, nurturing, safe environment for the Forest Dale school community. Certified staff includes two building administrators, seven special area teachers (art, music, fitness education, Spanish, and media, and movement and music), two gifted/talented teachers, two early childhood teachers, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, three special education teachers, a speech pathologist, and a counselor. Twenty-one teaching assistants also provide support services to teachers and students, and support staff is comprised of four custodians, two secretaries, and seven cafeteria workers.

PDS Functions/Goals

Teacher Preparation

Goal:
The faculty and staff of Forest Dale will work cooperatively with Ball State University to provide valuable teaching and learning experiences for pre-service teachers.

Notes:
Pre-service teachers at Forest Dale are receiving valuable experiences and instruction concerning the newest trends and techniques in education. All student teachers participate in weekly seminars that are led by the teachers and staff members at Forest Dale. The seminars focus on areas of curriculum and instruction that are currently being implemented at Forest Dale such as differentiated curriculum, classroom organization, and media technology. As the student teachers learn about these areas of instruction, they are encouraged to implement these programs in their own classrooms by working closely with their classroom supervisors.

Student teachers at Forest Dale are also given many opportunities to interact with various teachers, teach in team-teaching situations, and observe/participate in classrooms with children of various ages and abilities. Although the student teacher may be assigned to only one supervising teacher, we, at Forest Dale work together to provide many opportunities for the student teachers placed here.

Finally, while at Forest Dale, student teachers are provided with a great deal of feedback of their teaching. The Ball State liaison frequently observes and provides both written and verbal feedback to each student teacher. The supervising teachers and principal also participate in observations of the pre-service teachers through the Shared Supervision Model, providing feedback and modeling reflective thinking skills to the student teachers in our building.

Goal for 2006–2007:
Our goal for the next year is to continue what we are doing in the area of teacher preparation and to focus on recruiting high-quality candidates that will be the best match for Forest Dale staff and students.

Staff Development

Goal:
The staff at Forest Dale will participate in staff development activities so that they may continually grow as professionals.

Notes:
During the 2001–2002 school year, Forest Dale developed a Professional Development Plan through P.L. 221. Through this endeavor, the faculty worked together to determine strengths and weaknesses and created plans to target these areas of improvement. This plan, which focuses on student achievement was created by the entire faculty and was the focus of staff development for the 2005–2006 school year.

Each year, the staff of Forest Dale develops goals for professional development. The goals for 2005–2006 were the following:

Provide staff development for effective strategies to

• improve writing skills,
• improve math skills, and
• differentiate curriculum in the classroom.

The Forest Dale staff participated in several professional development activities. As part of the Forest Dale community, student teachers also participate in the same activities. These professional development activities included:

• Year-long Book Study – Half of the staff read The Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers and the other half read WOW! Working on the Work. The strategies learned during the book study were then implemented into the classrooms.
• Ongoing Assessment – Teachers assess students' writing and math skills and generated/implemented strategies for necessary improvement.

• Ongoing Team Planning – Teams met weekly and periodically with administrators to discuss writing and math implementation and assessment strategies.
• Monthly Faculty Shares – Staff members facilitated discussions of book study chapters and also participated in a mini-technology inservice and 6 + 1 Traits of Writing update.
• CCS Writing Prompt Scoring – Classroom teachers were given three half-days release time to "blind score" the grade-level writing prompts.
• Oct. 4 & Nov. 30 Inservice – Staff participated in a district-wide inservice for the implementation of the new science curriculum.
• Feb. 7 Inservice – Staff participated in a building level inservice of effective math strategies.
• Apr. 26 Inservice – Staff participated in a building level inservice of effective language arts strategies.

Goal for 2006-2007:
Our goal for the next year is to focus on the integration of literacy standards in social studies and to review best practices in written expression and math skills while continuing to integrate technology into the content areas.

Research

Goal:
The faculty of Forest Dale will participate in research activities that provide information about best practices and student achievement which can be used as change mechanisms for the future.

Notes:
The faculty and staff at Forest Dale continually conduct research of the best practices in elementary education. A major focus of research this year has been on the reading and writing process and how it affects student achievement. Staff members have attended many workshops over the past five years and have implemented new strategies into their teaching based on student achievement and learning. Learner goals are determined each year, and these goals are evaluated on the basis of ISTEP, CTBS, and informal data collection (including DRA, DIBELS, Johns IRA, Everyday Math Quarterly Assessments, and the CCS Math Baseline) to determine which practices best fit the needs of the learners at Forest Dale.

Goal for 2006-2007:
Our goal for the coming year is to continue researching the literacy programs that we currently have in place to determine their effectiveness and to guide the literacy textbook/program adoption process.

Student Learning

Goal:
The PDS partnership will concentrate on student learning and achievement, with a focus on helping all students reach their maximum potential.

Notes:
A major focus of the Ball State – Forest Dale partnership has always been student learning. This year at Forest Dale, there were cadres formed to determine the most effective practices in language arts, mathematics, and technology. The P.L. 221 Plan/NCA Action Plans were facilitated by the focus groups and implemented by the entire staff. The plans were also evaluated by the focus groups and the school improvement committee at the end of school to determine the additions and/or changes that were necessary to improve student learning and achievement. All staff development focused directly on student learning.

Goal for 2006-2007:
Our goal for the next year is to continue developing and implementing the most effective practices in writing and mathematics. We will also continue to implement strategies that will allow us to better integrate literacy and technology skills across the curriculum.